Best Bike For Beginner?

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
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TrevA
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Joined: 1 Jun 2007, 9:12pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: Best Bike For Beginner?

Post by TrevA »

My advice is - don’t overthink it. You can spend hours and hours going round in circles, comparing bike specs and different types of bikes. Any bike that’s in the ball park, size wise, can be adjusted to fit, so don’t get too hung up on size. I mostly ride a 58cm bike, but I’m currently riding round quite happily on a 54cm Cannondale, borrowed from my son in law. I’ll buy a new one that fits properly eventually, when bikes are more readily available. I would say that a bike that’s slightly too small is better than a bike that’s slightly too big.

There’s a very nice 58cm spa Audax currently in the For Sale section, for less than £400. The current rider is 5ft 11in, but look at the photo of the bike and note that there’s not much seatpost showing. This bike could easily be adjusted to fit a taller rider by putting the seat up a bit.
Sherwood CC and Notts CTC.
A cart horse trapped in the body of a man.
http://www.jogler2009.blogspot.com
MikeF
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Joined: 11 Nov 2012, 9:24am
Location: On the borders of the four South East Counties

Re: Best Bike For Beginner?

Post by MikeF »

TrevA wrote: 18 Apr 2021, 9:00pm My advice is - don’t overthink it. You can spend hours and hours going round in circles, comparing bike specs and different types of bikes. Any bike that’s in the ball park, size wise, can be adjusted to fit, so don’t get too hung up on size. I mostly ride a 58cm bike, but I’m currently riding round quite happily on a 54cm Cannondale, borrowed from my son in law. I’ll buy a new one that fits properly eventually, when bikes are more readily available. I would say that a bike that’s slightly too small is better than a bike that’s slightly too big.

There’s a very nice 58cm spa Audax currently in the For Sale section, for less than £400. The current rider is 5ft 11in, but look at the photo of the bike and note that there’s not much seatpost showing. This bike could easily be adjusted to fit a taller rider by putting the seat up a bit.
There maybe choice if you're tall, but not much if you're shorter.
"It takes a genius to spot the obvious" - my old physics master.
I don't peddle bikes.
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TrevA
Posts: 3545
Joined: 1 Jun 2007, 9:12pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: Best Bike For Beginner?

Post by TrevA »

MikeF wrote: 18 Apr 2021, 10:16pm
TrevA wrote: 18 Apr 2021, 9:00pm My advice is - don’t overthink it. You can spend hours and hours going round in circles, comparing bike specs and different types of bikes. Any bike that’s in the ball park, size wise, can be adjusted to fit, so don’t get too hung up on size. I mostly ride a 58cm bike, but I’m currently riding round quite happily on a 54cm Cannondale, borrowed from my son in law. I’ll buy a new one that fits properly eventually, when bikes are more readily available. I would say that a bike that’s slightly too small is better than a bike that’s slightly too big.

There’s a very nice 58cm spa Audax currently in the For Sale section, for less than £400. The current rider is 5ft 11in, but look at the photo of the bike and note that there’s not much seatpost showing. This bike could easily be adjusted to fit a taller rider by putting the seat up a bit.
There maybe choice if you're tall, but not much if you're shorter.
Unless you’ve got £5000 to spend, my experience recently is that there’s no choice at all for new bikes at the moment, everywhere is out of stock in almost every size.
Sherwood CC and Notts CTC.
A cart horse trapped in the body of a man.
http://www.jogler2009.blogspot.com
Cycling_Man
Posts: 61
Joined: 7 Apr 2021, 12:41pm

Re: Best Bike For Beginner?

Post by Cycling_Man »

TrevA wrote: 18 Apr 2021, 9:00pm My advice is - don’t overthink it. You can spend hours and hours going round in circles, comparing bike specs and different types of bikes. Any bike that’s in the ball park, size wise, can be adjusted to fit, so don’t get too hung up on size. I mostly ride a 58cm bike, but I’m currently riding round quite happily on a 54cm Cannondale, borrowed from my son in law. I’ll buy a new one that fits properly eventually, when bikes are more readily available. I would say that a bike that’s slightly too small is better than a bike that’s slightly too big.

There’s a very nice 58cm spa Audax currently in the For Sale section, for less than £400. The current rider is 5ft 11in, but look at the photo of the bike and note that there’s not much seatpost showing. This bike could easily be adjusted to fit a taller rider by putting the seat up a bit.
Thank you TrevA you are right. I just worry that I am going to spend money on a bike that I can't use but like you say, you can adjust a bike to fit so shouldn't think too hard on it.

Thanks for all your help
Jamesh
Posts: 2963
Joined: 2 Jan 2017, 5:56pm

Re: Best Bike For Beginner?

Post by Jamesh »

If you buy second hand then you won't loose much money.

Just check the gears shifters work, frame isnt damaged and the wheels are true.

Cheers James
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